Baseball Playoffs

 

October 6, 2021

The White Sox coasted through the Central Division. Despite this being the weakest division in baseball, 93 wins is nothing to sneeze at. The Baseball Prospectus (BP) had them winning 83 games. The Sox closed the season on a high note, winning 6 of their last seven games.  If healthy, Luis Robert will become one of the best all-around players in the game.

The Sox will face off in Houston against the Astros, who won their division by a comfortable margin. Last time the Sox were in Houston they lost 4 straight. However the Sox were without Robert, Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada was just coming off the IL. The rest of the team was in a funk that they were not in as this season ended, especially Yasmani Grandal. I think this series will be decided by who shows more power.

The Tampa Bay Rays won their division by 8 games. The BP had them winning 86 games. They finished with 100. The real excitement was going into the last day; four teams had a shot to make the playoffs. The Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays were sent home packing setting up a classic, the Boston Red Sox vs. the New York Yankees. The winner will face Tampa in a best of seven series.

In the National League, Atlanta started out slow but came on to win the division. The competition faded as the season progressed. They will face the Milwaukee Brewers, who got really hot midseason and were never really challenged for the Central Division. I think Milwaukee’s pitching will get them to the next round in the post season. The Cardinals rode a 17 game winning streak to claim a wild card spot. They will have a rough go as they face either the Dodgers or Giants.

The two best teams in the National League are in the West Division. Everyone knew the Dodgers would be good. They are loaded with talent and won 106 games. The biggest surprise of the season were the  San Francisco Giants who edged out the Dodgers with 107 wins. BP had them winning 77 games. A Giants-Dodger series renews an old rivalry and could be lots of fun. The biggest disappointment were the San Diego Padres. The Padres spent a lot of money acquiring players to challenge the Dodgers. Yu Darvish was the big prize in the off-season. However, he had the worst season of his career. He went 8-11 with a  4.22 era. Injuries to pitchers made them so desperate that they picked up Jake Arrieta who, by now, is washed up. They won 79 games, BP had the Padres winning 96.

I reference the Baseball Prospectus because they have all the formulas for predicting win totals. Their projected wins for most teams was way out of whack. As a White Sox fan, I was dismayed the Sox total was 83.  In the future I will disregard the predicted wins.